What happened to the blog?

Walking the stage and accepting my (placeholder) diploma

Guess who’s back (back, back)? Back again?! That’s right! You thought you’d seen the end of me but here I am, writing again. If you’re wondering what the the heck I’m talking about, let me tell you.

I started this blog back in September 2017 (a goal of mine since graduating from college) with the intent of blogging regularly about crafting, faith, feminism and general lifestyle topics. I wrote three awesome posts and promoted them on social media. I got some decent traction and I was so excited to actually blog consistently.

Then, after three posts, I stopped. I stopped scheduling and writing posts, stopped posting on social media, and basically gave up.

How did this happen, you ask? I lost my motivation. I came up with a general idea of the types of posts I wanted to create and the frequency of writing, but I didn’t create a plan of how I would achieve that. I assumed that great ideas would just come to me and that I’d be able to write amazing posts week after week without creating a calendar or a goal.

I’ll be honest with you, I was pretty disappointed in myself. I’d told all my friends and family about my new blog and really hyped it up. I set these lofty expectations for myself and then completely fell short of them.

For months I still got notifications for my blog’s Instagram about sparse new followers here and there. I hated even switching to my blog account because it made me feel like a failure.

A few weeks ago I was checking out the website “A Beautiful Mess.” Elsie and Emma are sisters who run this amazing business and blog about lifestyle, beauty, crafting, cooking and more. Their Instagram is AHHHMAZING and they have an equally amazing story.

The #goals homepage for A Beautiful Mess

Looking through their website and reading their posts inspired me to start my blog back up again. I love to write and I know I have so much to tell the world. But this time, I knew I needed a plan. It couldn’t be like last time where I got a random bout of inspiration and started a blog only to drop off after three posts. So I pulled out my brainstorming gear and got to work. Here’s what I did:

I made editorial calendars

My Google Sheets editorial calendar

I created an editorial calendar for blog posts and a social media calendar for all of my social accounts. I did extensive research online for tips, tricks and best practices for starting and maintaining a blog, staying organized and keeping up the motivation.

I started posting on social media almost every day

My Instagram page

Amidst all of the research and planning, I started posting on social media again. I followed other blogs and bloggers and posted as often as I could on Instagram. I interacted with people who commented on my posts and put in a concerted effort to engage with people.

I revamped my website

My new logo (duh)

I made a new logo and added some elements to the site to make it easier to navigate. I chose a consistent color scheme and streamlined it across all of my accounts. I expanded my “About Me” page and added more social account buttons.

And now I’m here to tell you, FINALLY, that my blog is up and running again. You may be thinking to yourself, “Yeah, she says that now, but just wait a few weeks and she’ll drop off again.” Well guess what? I’m here to stay. I’ve planned and organized and this time around I’m motivated and excited to write and post and give you the best content I can.

So welcome, once again, to Curiosity & Grace. I’ll be posting a new blog one to two times a week. I’ll be writing about lifestyle, crafting, faith, feminism, travel and pop culture. And I’ll be writing CONSISTENTLY. That, I can promise you.

What about you? Have you ever tried to start a blog that failed? What did you learn from it?